Bitter End
by Alazan
Summary: #CharacterDeath #ImpliedSlashRelationships #TonyStillHasArcReactor. There was a very distinctive 'click' as Steve pressed his shield harder into the arc reactor. Flashbacks of Obediah Stane standing over him, tearing out his arc-reactor, flashed before his eyes. "You broke my heart, Rogers...literally." "What! How do I fix it?" "You don't."


__"I'm sorry Mr. Stark. We did all we could for him." The doctor seemed genuinely disheartened. Not like the fake sympathy that seemed rehearsed and practiced that other doctors before in his life have sounded to him. Didn't make the pain easier to handle. "He's gone."__

 _ _Tony walked away, didn't stop or even pause when his name was called by multiple people. He stormed through the halls with such a passive aggressive expression that people went out of their way to avoid him. Which was for the best. The last thing he needed was for some other parent or loved one to show him a picture of someone else he got killed. He remembered when he only cared about himself. He'd gladly trade it all back for a time when the guilt was tolerable and the nightmares bearable. He went into a rampaging panic attack after locking himself in the bathroom.__

* * *

 _ _"How's Rhodes?" Sam asked Tony through the glass.__

 _ _Any humor Tony may have held before, even if it was sarcastic and crude, was gone. Pain, sorrow, grief, and anger were in it's place. Before Tony would do his damnedest to deny having those feelings too. He was a playboy billionaire, he wasn't supposed to feel that crap. But now Tony realized how alone he was. Pepper was gone, Steve broke up with him, and now Rhody was dead. So fuck everyone else and their emotions when Tony was losing control over his.__

 _ _He sent Sam a shit eating grin that was painful to see when his eyes shone bright with emotion. "Dead. So resting better than us."__

 _ _"I...I'm so-"__

 _ _"Save it. It's not gonna bring him back and I'm not in the mood. But if there's any sense of honor you feel as ex-military to__ _ ** _ **my**_**_ _ _military fallen best friend, how about you tell me where Rogers and Barnes are?"__

 _ _Sam looked guilty and tormented before he shook his head, "I__ _ ** _ **am**_**_ _ _sorry. But I can't."__

 _ _Tony fiddled with his watch and knocked out the audio. "They're not listening anymore so listen up. Iron Man is done. The world can fuck itself over for all I care. But I want to tie up loose ends. Look," He showed Sam the evidence he's gained. "I just want this to be over."__

 _ _They stared intensely for a moment before Sam sighed, and then told Tony what he wanted to know.__

* * *

Everything was going as well as it could, given the situation. Tony told Steve about the evidence he found about someone framing Bucky. There was still obvious tension between the two of them but that's practically been their relationship since they met.

All Tony wanted to do was kick this bad guy's ass, send him to prison, have a proper and final goodbye with Steve and then...go drink himself to death or something. Have one last party to end all parties. Something that'll make a Stark Expo look like a children's party without the works. He was filling in detail after detail and coming to terms with the end of his fabulous and miserable life.

A Stark's fitting end.

When the damn tape played. And Steve knew!

"How long!?" Tony demanded.

"Tony..."

"Did you know when we were together!?"

"Tony, please..."

"DID YOU __KNOW__!?"

"...Yes."

The fight that broke out was intense. His armor took a lot of damage and victory wasn't clear, but he was too angry to care or to stop. Barnes tackled him and used his metal arm to dig into his arc reactor. He threw him off and blasted him with the uni-beam. While he fell, Tony tried to go after him only to be tackled by Steve. As much as he hated fighting with the blond, this was a long time coming and pent up frustration from both big issues and little ones rose to the surface and came out in this fight of all fights.

There was a very distinctive 'click' as Steve pressed his shield harder into the arc reactor. He was still so angry and was about ready to use the Uni-Beam except...a jolt went through him and he knew that feeling. Flashbacks of Obediah Stane standing over him, tearing out his arc-reactor, flashed before his eyes.

"Tony?" If he wasn't dying, he would have laughed at the concern he heard in Steve's voice. But he smirked instead. Dark humor was his thing after all, right?

"You broke my heart, Rogers...literally."

" _ _What__?! How do I fix it?" Steve demanded, letting his shield drop with a 'clank' and held his shaky hands above the blinking arc reactor.

"You don't." Tony muttered. He forced himself to the side until he fell onto his back.

"Tony! Tony, don't close your eyes! Tony, stay with me!" Steve barked as he tried to keep Tony conscious.

Tony closed his eyes despite the Captain's words. Pain coursed through him and even as his body felt so cold, the breeze from the outside snow was refreshing.

" _ _Tony__!" Steve stressed.

Tony forced his eyes to blink open, but Steve was blurry and his vision was getting darker.

"Tony, stay with me!"

"Wasn' 'posed to en' like this...'lone." He scoffed out a bitter laugh before saying. "I was pose to throw huuuuge party. Die wiff the lime light on meh..."

"You're not dying, okay? You're not because you're gonna tell me how to fix this and then we're gonna-"

"Gonna what? Is over...you saved your James, I got mine killed. Now I go...I go after my James..." Tony muttered as his eyes began to flutter again.

"Wha...wait, you mean Rhody...Tony I'm sorry I...Tony? __Tony__!"

"S'okay...not...no' friends. No...no feelings."

"Tony, you __are__ my friend..." Steve said pathetically as he just held on to Tony at this point.

Tony smirked and scoffed, "Liar..."

* * *

"What happens to their armor?" Sam asked after everyone arrived to Wakanda. Their reunion wasn't as...satisfactory as they thought it would be.

Even Clint and Scott who were probably the most disconnected and had the best poker faces were somber at best.

"Natasha will be handing them to Pepper. She's the most familiar with Tony's protocol...they'll be destroyed. From what I know...Vision will make sure none of Tony's dangerous experiments make it either...total shut down."

"Steve...I'm sorry." Sam said.

"It wasn't supposed to end like this." Steve muttered.

"How __was__ it supposed to end? And how will __this__ end?" Wanda's voice broke through the silence, but it was only met with more silence. Because no one had an answer. At least not one that they liked.


End file.
